Tales of the Day Care
by Green Snorlax
Summary: Have you ever wondered about the Day Care Couple? Who they are, how they met, and how they learned so much about Pokemon ... business? Read on, and all will be revealed!
1. Part 1

You probably know me as the Day Care Man. The man in the green overalls who stands outside the Day Care's picket fence as you ride back and forth on your bicycle past the Battle Chateau, waiting for me to turn around with an egg. Sometimes you ask me about your Pokemon, whether they are happy, or are getting along, or whether my wife had to put them into separate cages. But have you ever wondered who I am, or how I became the Day Care Man? It's quite the story, I'll tell you!

But first you have to realize what it's like to be a talentless trainer. I'll admit it now, despite the years I spent trying to prove myself. Always trying, always failing. You, the star trainer who got all eight badges in a number of weeks, who beat the Elite Four on your first try. You probably never even thought about the grown man on Route 3 with the single Metapod, who you blitzed past with a single move your first day on the road. That was me, ten years ago, trying to make my way as a trainer.

Talented trainers get all the attention, as I've said before. When I found myself waking up at my mom's house over and over, not even being able to get to the first Pokemon Center in my neighbourhood, no one wanted to help me. Not when there were other eleven-year-olds with exceptional talent out there. Eventually, I realized it wasn't going to work out, I decided to look for another job. Something that didn't rely on my ability to throw Pokeballs with excellent aim, or make quick decisions under pressure.

My first job was at the Hotel Richissime. Like everything else, it didn't work out. I started off making beds, which was good, but eventually I wasn't fast enough, so they moved me to doing room service. That was fine for a while, as well, but as the hotel got more popular, and there were more and more orders, and eventually I couldn't remember them all. Then, I worked in the lost and found, which was great, until an important dignitary came to visit, and lost her Ship in a Bottle. I ran around really fast trying to find it, but unfortunately in a panic, I stepped on it. Completely mortified, I apologized to the woman, but it was too late. The hotel manager took me outside and told me I was fired.

After that, I started working for the Massage Woman in Cyllage City. Like me, she was eventually doomed to become nameless based on her profession, but back then she was known as Karen. She loved to massage Pokemon, but it made her arms really tired. She was so pleased to have an assistant. She even let me live in her spare bedroom and paid me a small salary out of the Pokemon Conservation Grant she received for performing her massage services. It was relaxing work, but I had the same problem I had when I was a trainer. Pokemon, especially large ones, don't really like me. When Karen was around, they would always be perfectly calm, but as soon as I was alone, they would start to act anxious. Karen said it was a body language thing, if I acted more relaxed, they would calm down, but it never seemed to help.

That said, my massages always seemed to make the Pokemon at least slightly more friendly, until one fateful day when someone came in with a Mawile while Karen was out shopping. It seemed cute, and I started doing effleurage down its back when it suddenly turned around and started snapping its teeth in my face. I moved away quickly, but it lunged towards me, and in a few more steps I was backed into the corner. It moved closer, growling and nipping at my pant legs, and eventually tore one off. I sank even further back into the corner, and thankfully discovered there was a broom behind me. I grabbed it and started beating the Mawile away, which was when Karen came in.

"What are you doing!" she yelled, dropping her groceries. Of course, with Karen's presence, the Mawile immediately returned to its calm demeanor.

"Hitting Pokemon with brooms makes them so much less friendly," she hissed under her breath.

"But it attacked me!" I said, pointing to my torn pants. Karen's a really nice lady, so she stood there deliberating a bit. Eventually she said calmly,

"Have you ever considered that Pokemon massage might not be the career for you?"

I left Karen's house a few days later. I had decided that I was young and hip, and should check out the scene in Lumoise City. Great fashion, great food, stylish women, who could go wrong? At the very least, I would be able to acquire a fashionable new pair of pants. But when I got there, everything was more expensive than I imagined. Three hundred Pokedollars for a coffee! Ridiculous. I ended up working long hours at Restaurant Le Yeah just to be able to afford to share a one bedroom apartment with three other dishwashers. And let me tell you, working at a place like that is not what you expect. Everything has to be perfect. Once, the owner Yannick came up to me and complained about my work, and you would not believe why! A few times, customers had come into the back, and each time I had said different things.

"We need every employee to stand in exactly the same spot, and say exactly the same thing," he said, "Consistency is very important to our customers"

At that point, I decided I was fed up. I quit my job, and pretty soon I was living in a tent like I had when I was a trainer. But I didn't care, I was my own man, and every moment was my own. So what if I spent most of my days scavenging for shards to sell to the Pokemon Center so I could afford potions. At least I didn't have to listen to that idiot Yannick.

This went on a for a few months until the summer, when it became warm, and I decided it wasn't worth pitching my tent anymore, and started spending my nights on a bench in front of the Pokemon Center (the small back-alley one, not the central Lumiose City one). This actually wasn't unusual, on hot days, you would seen groups of young men sleeping on the pavement. It was the ultimate sign of trainer dedication, not being willing to leave the Pokemon Center, even to sleep. It was actually a bit inspiring, talking to all these young trainers, hearing about their successes and failures. It made me almost want to get back into the trainer game again.

That's when I met Mara.


	2. Part 2

The day that I met Mara was busier than usual for me. I'd heard rumours of a horde of Oddishes on route 6 and I'd treked out there trying to fill my party. After several hours of chasing (and not catching) Oddishes, I gave up and stumbled onto a field with a pile of Stardust in one corner. Not seeing any obvious owner, I spent the rest of the day going back and forth between the field the local Pokemon Center with loads of it in my pockets. By the time I made it back to Lumiose City, I was starving and exhausted. I stopped at a cafe to buy a sandwich, and then sat down on the bench in front of the Pokemon Center to eat it, but instead I dozed off.

I woke up to the sound of crinkling paper, and when I opened my eyes, I saw a large blue and white face inches from mine. I had only ever seen one in pictures, but I knew immediately it was a Snorlax. It had grabbed the sandwich from my lap, and was trying to unwrap it. I stayed completely still, remembering a Snorlax safety commercial I had seen on television, but then I heard a girl yelling,

"No, CJ, no!"

I was shocked. Didn't she know that loud noises could cause an otherwise peaceful Snorlax to attack? I strengthened my resolve to stay so still that the Snorlax couldn't tell I was alive, when to my great surprise, it stepped back and dropped the sandwich.

"Good, CJ, good!" she said in a slightly calmer voice, "You know not to grab people's food"

The Snorlax's shoulders lowered a bit, and it evened looked a bit sheepish.

"Sorry about that," the girl said, "I'm still trying to train him"

Then her eyes met mine. And while I'm sure a lot of couples remember the moment when their eyes first met, it's different when you're both trainers.

"I am Snorlax Maniac Mara," she yelled immediately, "and I challenge you to a battle!"

I paused for a moment. Ever since I'd quit my job, I'd had trouble deciding how to announce myself in battles. I'd been "Hotel Worker Kevin" and then "Massage Assistant Kevin" and then "Dishwasher Kevin", but wasn't quite sure what to say now that I was out of work. Seeing that Mara was quite pretty, I decided to exaggerate a bit.

"I'm Rising Star Kevin and I accept!" I responded.

I looked at Mara, and she seemed to be deciding what Pokemon to send out. I noticed that alongside wearing a shirt with a picture of a Snorlax on it, her shoes were shaped like Snorlax feet, and her long blue hooded sweatshirt had Snorlax ears. A Pokeflute dangled from the waistband of her jeans. Unsurprisingly, she sent out the Snorlax that had taken my sandwich.

I sent out my only Pokemon, a Metapod.

The Snorlax, CJ, sized my Metapod up for a minute. As he did, I saw that he looked a bit different from the Snorlax I had seen in pictures. His fur was a deeper royal blue, and the light parts of his body were more of a peach than a white. Moreover, instead of the short and straight hair I'd seen in the picture, his was long and matted like a shag carpet. This made him seem wider. He also looked a bit shorter, and when I did a second take, I saw he was missing the claws on his left hand. Not that this mattered, as with a single swipe of his good hand he defeated my Metapod.

Helpfully, I was standing next to the Pokemon Center, so I went in and healed him. When I finished, Mara was waiting outside with her Snorlax.

"Let me buy you a new sandwich," she said. CJ immediately started gesturing to the one that had fallen on the ground.

"He can't eat that, you've contaminated it!" Mara snapped. As we started walking off, CJ stayed put, staring downwards at the sandwich.

"I guess you can have it," she said tersely to him, and he bent over and ate it in a single bite.

"Let's go to Restaurant Le Yeah," she said motioning down the road, and I quickly mumbled,

"Actually I can't go there ..."

I told her the whole story, and thankfully she found it a bit amusing.

"They make employees stand in the same place all day there?" she spat, "That's crazy! I'm definitely never going there again!"

I nodded in agreement.

We went to Restaurant Le Nah instead. To my surprise, CJ followed us in, and stood silently beside the table the entire meal. I was worried when we sat down that he would take a wild leap for other diners' meals, but Mara assured me that she had trained him not to.

"He knows I'll buy him a crate of oranges if he behaves," she assured me.

"Is there a Snorlax in your other Pokeball?" I asked, remember that she had a second Pokemon she hadn't sent into battle.

"No," she said, "It's a Charizard. Snorlax are hard to come by."

She seemed deeply saddened by this statement.

"Wait, why do you call yourself a Snorlax Maniac if you only have one Snorlax?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know," she retorted, "Why do you call yourself a Rising Star when you're like twenty five, and have a single Metapod?"

I paused for a second. I figured it was better to jest.

"Well, you see, I'm rising at a very slow rate. In fact, such a mild trajectory that you can barely even detect it."

Mara started giggling when I said this.

"What do you do?" I asked, wanting to change the topic. She looked down, and started rifling through her pockets. Eventually, she found a card and gave it to me.

 _ **Mara Bentley**_

 **Snorlax Services**

 _Breeding - Grooming - Training - Removal_

Head of Route 3

"You train Snorlax?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said, "I have a PhD in Pokemon Breeding from Kantos University, with a specialty in Snorlax"

"Are there that many Snorlax in Kalos?" I asked.

Her face fell again.

"Actually, I'm just starting the business," she said, "I don't have any customers yet. But if I give out enough cards, I'm sure someone will call eventually."

It was my turn to smile.

"Dare to dream," I said in a slightly teasing manner.

She looked at me.

"Actually," she said, "It's my dream to become a Snorlax breeder. That's my actual goal with this business. I want to save up to buy Snorlax breeding equipment. It would be so amazing to spend all day just surrounded by Snorlax!"

Considering my experience with CJ that morning, I found this less than convincing. However, Mara tipped her head back, as if in a reverie. Suddenly, the waitress came with the first course. CJ won the battle with her easily, and after giving us a look I interpreted to mean that he expected a lot of oranges later, he moved back to his perch beside the table as we ate. As we started eating, the conversation went silent.

"I heard they do a lot of Snorlax breeding the the University of Kalos," I said, rummaging my brain for anything I knew about Snorlax, "Why don't you work there?"

Mara put down her fork and gave me an annoyed glare.

"I did in fact work there for three years, and then applied for a professorship, and was declined!"

She looked around the room in a way that showed that she was still not okay with this development.

"Why not?" I asked, looking into her glowering face, "You seem to know a lot about Snorlax."

"I know, don't I?" she said, "I was the best breeder, but then this other guy, who knew a whole lot less than me came along and applied for a professorship too, and they picked him instead! And do you know why they picked him?"

I shook my head.

"Because his name was the same name as a tree!" she spat, "It was completely unfair, totally political."

She picked up her fork slammed it onto her plate with a clatter. Then the waitress showed up with the second course. CJ was a bit less restrained this time, and leaned over, putting his face a few inches from my plate. But a stern warning from Mara redirected him to battling the waitress, a battle which he won easily.

"He's a good fighter," I said, ignoring the fact that despite being a few feet away, CJ was still staring intently at at my plate, "What moves does he know?"

Mara put up four fingers uneasily.

"The first one is Tackle, which he used against your Metapod. The second is Yawn, which is good for catching wild Pokemon. And the third is Giga Impact, I got the TM on sale at the Pokemart."

"What about the fourth?" I asked, looking at her fingers.

She wavered a bit,

"It's a move I made up myself, called Stand Tall."

"What does it do?" I continued, oblivious.

She started to blush.

"Well ..." she started slowly, "Have you ever noticed that in the field, no one's house ever has a toilet in it?"

I'd never really thought of it before, but I supposed it was true. She paused awhile more.

"Well, I have CJ use Stand Tall to hide me from view so I can pee at the side of the road …"

I started laughing audibly despite myself. Mara looked serious for a moment, and then joined in.

"Really?! What does it do in battle?" I asked gasping for breath.

"Raises his Special Defense a bit, or something," she said before bursting into giggles, "But I hardly ever use it in battle. It's really just a field move."

We sat there, intermittently laughing for a few moments until the waitress came with our dessert in a box.

"Can I get a crate of oranges too?" Mara asked, and then ran to restrain CJ from following the waitress into the back of the restaurant as she got them. As soon as she returned, he forcefully grabbed the crate from the waitress with his good hand, poured the oranges into his mouth, and swallowed them in a single gulp before putting the crate back down into the waitress's hands. She looked stunned.

Mara shrugged, as if to say at least he had behaved for most of the meal. We got up and CJ followed us out of the restaurant, and then Mara moved to walk away.

"I'm sorry CJ woke you up and wrecked your sandwich," she said.

"Don't worry," I replied, "That was a better meal than I've eaten in awhile!"

It was true. With just my Metapod, I could never even make it through the first course battle at Cafe Le Nah.

"Now that you've told me about your secret moves," I joked, "You're going to have to help me train my Metapod!"

She smiled and blushed a bit.

"Well you have my card," she said, "Don't forget, the head of Route 3!"

"Bring your own Snorlax!" she added as she walked off, with CJ trailing behind her.


	3. Part 3

As soon as Mara left, I started thinking about how I would get in touch with her again. I had to wait a few days of course, so I wouldn't come off as desperate, but not too long that she thought I wasn't into her. And of course, it would be best if I had a actual reason to show up at her door.

"Maybe I could say my Metapod is sick," I told a young (actual) Rising Star, whose legal name was actually Star. Like me, he lived outside the Pokemon Center.

"You live ten feet from where you could get him healed, dude," he replied with an air of smarminess common among young trainers.

"I could catch a Snorlax," I tried, and immediately I heard someone laughing. It was a boy who'd been known as Tubbs ever since he'd gained 20 pounds eating at Cafe Le Wow trying to evolve his Wailmer.

"You'll get shredded," he said as soon as he'd stopped laughing.

"And where would you even find a Snorlax?" asked Star.

That was an excellent question.

"Maybe I could say I saw a Snorlax and wanted to tell her?"

Star smirked at me,

"Yeah, it's not like she has an advanced degree in Snorlax, and could tell that you're lying."

Over the next two days I tried to think of some better ideas, but it turned out it wasn't necessary. The next day I saw Mara and CJ walking by the Pokemon Center.

I immediately stood up from my bench and smoothed my shirt, trying to pretend I hadn't slept there.

"Hello, Mara!" I said, and she turned to talk to me. She told me that she had come to get some more Pokeballs, as there had been a Snorlax sighting near the Lumiose Badlands. We chatted for a bit, but just as I was about to ask her if she wanted to get together some time, she said she had to go, or she might miss the Snorlax.

"See," I said to Star, "If I said I'd seen one she totally would have believed me!'

Star just shook his head.

I saw Mara on her way back too. She hadn't managed to find any Snorlax.

"To be fair, it wasn't a very credible report," she said, "The Lumiose Badlands are not prime Snorlax habitat. But I figured it was worth checking out."

I hoped that Star couldn't hear this, but of course he and Tubbs were standing a few feet away.

"Where's CJ?" I asked, noticing this was the first time I'd seen Mara without him trailing behind her.

"He's in a Pokeball as a punishment until he learns how to behave!"

"What did he do?" I asked, my mind full of many possibilities.

"I got hungry in the field, so I started roasting a hot dog on Charizard's tail, and he put his arm right through the flame and grabbed it."

That didn't seem so bad, considering what I'd seen of CJ's behaviour so far.

"Did he get a burn?" I asked.

"His fur caught fire for a bit, but he just blew it out, ate the hotdog, and then turned around and ate all the hot dogs and marshmallows I'd taken out of my bag. I got no lunch, and I had to use up all my Burn Heals!"

I considered joking that it might be for the best that she hadn't caught another Snorlax, but thought better of it.

"Roasting food on your Charizard's tail, that's pretty creative," I said instead.

"Actually, it's pretty common these days, for every efficiency" she replied, "I actually have a Charizard kitchen. The stove and oven and even the toaster can be powered completely by Charizard's tail."

"That's really cool," I replied.

"You should come and see it," she continued, "I'll cook you dinner and you can see the benefits of a Pokemon-powered kitchen."

In the corner of my eye, I could seen Star and Tubbs waving thumbs-up at me.

"Sure," I said, "I'd like that."

"Tomorrow at six o'clock?" she asked.

I pretended to be thinking about whether I had any other engagements.

"Sure," I said, "Should I bring anything?"

"Just that Metapod of yours," she replied, "CJ and I will be waiting!"

The next day, I went to the apartment I used to live in and borrowed the shower and washed my clothes. After being regaled with gossip from Cafe Le Yeah, I started off towards the head of Route 3. It was a long way from Lumiose City, but I made it there by six. I knew I was in the right place when I saw a slightly rickety wooden house with a picket fence around it. Mara was out in the yard with her Charizard, and was forcing her tail through the wall.

"Good job Charizard!" she said when it got all the way through, and threw her some sort of treat.

"Sorry," Mara said, "I'm just getting started. CJ ate someone's garden and I had to fix it."

I pretended to be surprised.

"Come in," she said opening the gate and letting me in.

I went inside and saw that it was a simple house, one room with the kitchen on one side and some furniture and a large book case on the other. A narrow staircase veered off in the corner.

"You have a nice place," I said. It was palatial compared to where I currently lived.

"CJ and I built it," she smiled.

I tried not to worry the place was going to fall down.

"I got Slowpoke tail for dinner," she said, "I hope you're okay with that."

"Sure," I replied, not having a strong opinion on the subject.

"Great," she spoke quickly, "I've never liked Slowpokes. They're disgusting! People say they should be conserved, but I think they're just Rattatas with larger tails."

"Delicious though," she added after a second.

"It's important to take a principled stand," I quipped.

"Kevin, you're so funny," she said, batting at me playfully.

We chatted as she made dinner, and it turned out we had a lot in common. She'd also worked at the Hotel Richissme, and had her own experiences with being a less-than-exceptional trainer.

"It's so glorified," she complained with a touch of anger, "There's so much focus on kids becoming great trainers, when the truth is that most adults hardly ever battle. Sure, there might be the odd occasion, especially if you work somewhere that wants to attract young trainers, but I don't see why it's the standard we judge every young person by."

It turned out that Dr. Tree-Name who she had lost her professorship to was also a champion trainer.

As she finished dinner, I looked around. All the books in her bookcase were about Snorlax. Snorlax Behaviour: An Analysis. Snorlax Anatomy for Breeders. Current Snorlax Diseases and Treatments, Third Edition. Snorlax Trisomies. Mara was the author of that one. On her desk were notes and a sketch of a Snorlax claw, alongside a photo of a much younger Mara with CJ.

I was interrupted by a loud crashing noise from above me.

"Argh," she said, "That's CJ, he smells food. But he's still not getting any after the marshmallow incident!"

The banging continued as she put dinner on the table, but finally it subsided. We sat down and started eating. The food was delicious.

"This is really good Slowpoke tail," I said.

"Yeah," replied Mara, "It's the Charizard flame that really gives it the crispness."

Suddenly, Mara excused herself and ran outside.

"Sorry about that," she said when she came back inside, "I forgot to let Charizard out of the stove."

I supposed that was a hazard of the technology.

"What does CJ stand for?" I asked, hearing some quieter rumbling from upstairs.

"I have no idea," said Mara.

"How can you not know?" I asked.

"He was a trade. I traded a boy at the Lumiose City Pokemon Center a Smeargle for him. I came back to ask him what it stood for, but all he would say was 'Take good care of CJ' over and over."

That didn't surprise me somehow.

"And you didn't just make something up?" I asked.

"No, that would be wrong! CJ must know what his full name is."

I wasn't so sure of that considering that he didn't know not to grab a flaming marshmallow, but I didn't say anything.

After dinner, Mara suggested that we watch a movie. She put on Sarah and the Snorlax and we sat on the couch. It was a fairly boring film, a documentary on a family that raised Snorlax, so I spent most of the time contemplating making moves on Mara. It had been a long time since I'd had any action, but I didn't want to scare her off by doing too much too soon. Most of my encounters with women seemed to end that way. I wished I'd asked Star and Tubbs for guidance.

After I'd definitely decided I was going to wait for the fifth time, Mara sidled up beside me. Then she was in my lap. Mara was so beautiful, and she smelled like those flowers at the side of Route 4, so there was no resisting at this point. I turned her around so she was straddling me and leaned in and kissed her. Eventually the movie ended, and we stopped kissing. I decided I'd pressed my luck enough for one evening.

"I should get going," I said.

"Sure," Mara said, "I can fly you home on Charizard so you don't have to walk. Where do you live?"

Mentally, I kicked myself for causing such an awkward question.

"Um … well …" I started, "I mostly sleep outside of the Pokemon Center these days. It's where you find the most dedicated trainers."

"Well you should stay over then," Mara said, sounding concerned, "It's so cold out this time of night."

It had never occurred to me that being homeless could get me laid, but I figured I'd run with it.

We went upstairs to her bedroom, and it was almost completely filled with CJ, snoring on his back. I walked around him, stepping over his feet, and looked on the other side.

"Wait a sec," I asked, "Where is your bed?"

"Well, actually," Mara said, "I sleep on CJ. I have blankets and pillows, and because he knows the move Yawn, he emits a sleep-inducing aura. It's actually very comfortable"

I doubted this very much, but figured I'd give it a shot. I stripped down to my boxers, and with Mara's help, climbed onto CJ's belly. It wasn't too bad, but I was taller than her, so my body was slightly curved near my head and my feet. And CJ shook every time he let out a snore. But still passable as a place to sleep.

Then Mara rolled on top of me and started kissing me. I tried to enjoy it, but I couldn't stop feeling ripples through CJs body and hearing his breathing.

"What if we wake him up?" I asked in a whisper.

"He's never wakes up" she said.

"Wait, you do this a lot!?" I asked, surprised.

"No, no, no," she said quickly, "It's just that Snorlax are very hard to wake up. You can almost never do it without a Pokeflute. I've never woken him up accidentally."

I was slightly relieved to hear that, but it didn't put me completely at ease.

"It's just that my back is in a funny position," I went on, trying to articulate what was bothering me, "And he keeps moving."

"I forgot, you're used to your orthopedic park bench," she said sarcastically, and I couldn't think of anything else to argue. I gave up, let her continue kissing me, but it was hard to get turned on. And then, CJ gave off a giant snore that almost caused Mara to fall off me.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this," I said after a minute, "It's just too weird."

Mara looked disappointed.

"Next time," she whispered in my ear, resting her head on my chest, as she thought somehow next time I would be used to it.

As I lay there, my head was buzzing. I couldn't believe what had just happened. I could totally understand sleeping on top of CJ, but she didn't think she could just bring guys there, did she? And I idly wondered if she had done it before.

Snorlax Maniac Mara, indeed.


	4. Part 4

I left Mara's house early the next morning, and on the way back to Lumiose city, I tried to figure out how I would explain what had happened to Star and Tubbs. It wasn't uncommon for the guys outside the Pokemon Center to tell dirty stories, so I knew I'd have to tell them, but I wanted to say it in a way I wouldn't get teased to much. It would also be good if I made some sort of joke. I went through everything that had happened in my head. There had to be a pun in there. But by the time I got to the Pokemon Center, I hadn't thought of it.

"Looky here, it's Kevin doing the walk of shame!' Tubbs yelled out the second he saw me.

"That would require him to own a second set of clothing," Star quipped. I shot him a dirty look.

"So was there sexy Snorlax action?" Tubbs jibed with a wink.

"Well, actually …" I started, and spat out what had happened.

By the time I finished, Tubbs had a look of horror on his face, but Star just started laughing.

"I bet your balls were bluer than the Snorlax's!" he howled.

There was the joke. God damn it.

It was a few days before I saw Mara again. She was with CJ, and was walking through the city in quite a huff.

"Hi, Mara," I said.

"Hi, Kevin," she said, and immediately asked, "Do you know what just happened?"

I shook my head.

"The was a Snorlax blocking the bridge to Route 5! And do you know what the police did?"

I shook my head again.

"They asked a random passing 11-year-old girl to wake it! As if I had not given every single one of them a business card! As if there was not a Snorlax removal expert living just down the street!"

"That's terrible," I said with a bit more enthusiasm than I was feeling, "what happened?"

"Well, she got a PokeFlute after a long odyssey," Mara said, rolling her eyes and indicating the PokeFlute that was always dangling from her belt. "And she woke it up, and it attacked her! Of course, she couldn't fight it because she was 11 years old and it ran away. So, anyhow, I'm off to find this Snorlax before it attacks another child, but just so you know, this could have easily been prevented!"

"I'll say," I agreed forcefully.

We chatted a bit more, and she invited me over for dinner again.

"I built a bed," she whispered into my ear discreetly.

"Well, that's better than I got!" I joked, and she was off.

A few days later, I walked to Mara's, and truth be told, I never really left after that. Every night she insisted that it was cold, or wet, or dangerous so I would stay, until eventually I felt like I lived there and stopped trying to leave.

Life was easy. With a roof over my head, and food on the table, there was nothing I had to do. Most days, I would sleep in and then laze about watching Mara's Snorlax videos. Mara was always busy though. In the morning, she would always scavenge with CJ, and then take him to eat lawn trimmings at the compost heap. Then she would spend her afternoons writing letters to other Snorlax researchers and reading books. People often came to visit her with sick or unusual Snorlax, and sometimes they wanted her to dissect eggs that failed to hatch. She always did the best she could, and never charged anything.

"You don't understand the Snorlax trainers' code," she snapped, when I suggested this might be a way to make some extra money.

Living with Mara had indeed taught me that there was a lot involved in training Snorlax. Soon after I moved in, Mara started trying to teach CJ to surf. It started with him refusing to get into the water, and the first time he did, he immediately floated away, and Mara had to borrow a boat to rescue him. Once he was able to surf, he often forgot the move, leaving Mara stranded. The village boatman had taken to asking "what now?" whenever he saw Mara or I coming. Unfortunately, his code of ethics did not prevent him from charging us large amounts of money for rescues.

Mara also spent a lot of time getting CJ out of trouble. It seemed that every day, he managed to get into something. Once, he managed to squeeze into a neighbour's kitchen and eat all the food there. Mara had to put him into a Pokeball to get him out. Another time, he smashed the window of a bakery, and ate all the pastries on display. Mara managed to trade a Snorunt with a maintenance man in return for fixing the window.

Despite all this, Mara spent a lot of time looking for another Snorlax. We'd go into the woods and look for signs of them.

"Female Snorlax," she explained, "Like to save up food before mating season for their babies. So if you see a big pile a fruit, it's a good sign that there's Snorlax around."

I nodded.

"In which case, you should run," she added, "Snorlax with babies are really aggressive."

Somehow, this never seemed to stop her from looking for them.

She also showed me several photos of Snorlax droppings, and told me to look out for them. I tried to act like I totally planned to spend time looking at Pokemon droppings in the future.

One day, we were out on the woods, looking for Snorlax when we ran into Star and Tubbs.

"Hey, Kevin!" Tubbs yelled, "We've been looking for you everywhere."

Mara shushed him, as to not scare off the Pokemon.

"We wanted to tell you we're about to leave Lumiose City," Star said at a more reasonable volume.

"We were hoping you might come with us," Tubbs added.

'What?" I asked.

"Well, Tubbs thinks we need adult supervision," Star said pointedly.

"I did not say that," Tubbs yelled again. Mara gave him a sharp look. He lowered his voice to a whisper.

"I was just saying that it's hard to travel some of the more difficult routes with just two people," he continued, "Since we knew that you don't have all your Gym Badges yet, we were thinking you could come too."

"You know I'll have to think about it," I replied.

"Yep, we're leaving Thursday," Tubbs said, "Come by if you want to join in!"

And then he and Star were off.

Mara and I discussed it that night.

"Not having my Gym Badges has always felt like unfinished business," I explained weakly.

"Maybe you'll finally evolve your metapod," she snapped sarcastically.

"Come on," I said, "This is my last chance! If I don't go get my badges now, I probably never will"

She didn't have an answer for that.

"I promise I'll come back!" I added. Eventually she gave in. So I packed my bag, and walked up to Lumiose City. I was going to be a trainer again!


	5. Part 5

Most people have a lot to say about their Pokemon adventure, but I don't. Everything that happened is basically what you'd expect. Star, Tubbs and I travelled all the routes. We battled other trainers. We caught Pokemon. We ran into a team of well-meaning yet misguided conspirators. We fought them. We saved the world. I even managed to get all my gym badges.

And I realized something important along the way. All considered, I'm fairly handy. It started when we were in the field, and I fixed many broken items we found. Then, I helped out several villages with serious and conveniently timed electrical problems. When we got to the Ice Gym, it was thawing due to a broken compressor, which I managed to replace with some items I somehow found along the way. Afterwards, the leader handed me a badge without even challenging me to a battle. As someone who had always considered myself to have no skills whatsoever, it felt strange. When Tubbs and Star went off to fight the Elite Four, I decided it was time to go home.

When I reached Mara's house, the outside looked completely different. It was surrounded by a picket fence, and there were several Pokemon bathing in some pools outside. _Pokemon Day Care_ I read on the sign on the outside. This couldn't be right. Mara wouldn't have moved and not told me.

"Kevin!" I heard Mara yell, and she ran up and put her arms around me. I tried to look slightly less confused than I was feeling.

"Hey Mara, it's nice to see you," I said. Unable to hold back my curiosity any longer, I asked,

"What is all this stuff?"

Mara laughed.

"It's my new business, a new way to make money called the Pokemon Day Care!"

She motioned me inside. The main room was no longer a kitchen and living room, instead there was a long desk with a Pokemon Storage System computer at the end. Mara went around to the other side and started rifling through the drawers. She pulled out a tray of Pokeballs,

"So, one thing I do, is level up trainers' Pokemon for them."

She walked to some overhead cabinets and pulled out a container.

"I call these Common Biscuits. I bake them myself. While they are not quite as delicious as Rare Candy, they still occasionally so delicious they cause a Pokemon to increase in level."

With this, she grabbed a Pokeball and threw it to the ground. A Meowth came out. Mara threw it a few biscuits, which it ate, and then she returned it to the Pokeball. She repeated this with every Pokeball in the tray.

"People pay me for every day I keep their Pokemon and their level improves."

Mara grinned, like this was a brilliant idea.

"I bet you get a lot of business," I said cautiously.

"So much I have to limit trainers to two Pokemon each!" she said gleefully, before adding, "But that's not it!"

She walked to the back of the room, and opened a small door at the back. It was dark behind it, and there was a ladder going downwards.

"Follow me!" Mara said, and started climbing down the ladder. At the bottom was a dark hallway. I followed Mara down it, and it got darker. Suddenly, I felt something slam into my chest, and a pair of paws clamp down on my back.

"CJ!" Mara yelled, and the grip loosened a bit. I moved back a bit, and I was starting CJ in the face. He stuck his tongue out and licked me.

"Oh, CJ," Mara groaned, "You know that's not sanitary!"

He loosened his grip even more, and I rubbed him quickly on the belly before moving away.

"Sorry," she said, "He's happy to see you."

A we left the hallway, we walked into an expansive room. It was so large I stood there in awe for a second.

"Did you build this?" I asked Mara incredulously.

"Me and CJ!" she said, and CJ shrugged a little bit. I tried not to worry too much that the whole thing would cave in.

"It's the same technology as a Pokeball," she said, "Big on the inside and small on the outside."

I nodded.

"This is the breeding center," Mara continued as we walked towards some cages, "I'm an expert in Snorlax breeding, but I learned a lot in university about other Pokemon too. So if a trainer brings in a pair that gets along, I try to breed them."

Looking around, there were a lot of different cages, and most of them were empty, but there were a few tanks containing Magikarp, and a fenced in area with two Diggersby. Bird cages hung from the ceilings, and one contained two Spearows. As we walked on, we came onto some huge cages. Several of them had large tears in them.

"What are those for?" I asked.

"Tyranitar cages," she spat, "But unfortunately, they keep getting a bit rowdy and damaging them."

"Why don't you just let them run around?" I asked, "There's a lot of room."

"But then they might breed with the wrong one," she replied. I tried not to imagine what the place would look like with more than two Tyranitars in it.

At the end of the room, there were two large pits, big crater shaped holes dug into the ground.

"What are those?" I wanted to know.

"Snorlax pits. It's the best configuration for breeding Snorlax."

"You finally got some Snorlax to breed!" I exclaimed, "That's great."

Mara looked at me.

"Actually, no one has brought any in yet," she said, "But if it happens I need to be prepared!"

She blew her hair out of her face wistfully.

As we went up the ladder, CJ tried to follow us.

"No," Mara yelled back at him, "You know you have a job to do!"

It turned out that Mara had trained him to patrol the cages and watch for eggs. She would give him an orange every time he showed her one. Apparently, Pokemon would never produce an egg if a human was watching.

We talked for a couple of hours and caught up, and then Mara had to go off to do a Pokemon feeding. It was then that I realized that the sofa where I had previously spent my days at Mara's was gone.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" I asked Mara, hoping she would give me a hint.

"Sure," she said, "How about you stand outside with a net for a bit, and see if you can bring in some new customers?"

The outdoor area was a mess really. The Pokemon ponds were dirty, and several of the cages were broken. I used my net to clean the ponds, and then got to work on the cages. As I did, I started thinking about those Tyranitar cages. There had to be something I could do to fix them. I had an idea and walked off to try it. I came back in a couple of hours.

"Where have you been?" Mara asked.

"I saw those broken Tyranitar cages," I replied, "So I caught some Pichu in a net so we can electrify them. I bet the Tyranitar won't want to touch them then."

Mara looked at me like I'd come from another planet.

"Here, I brought you something," I said, tugging at my pocket, "It's a Shiny Pichu, it got caught in the net with the others."

"Oh my god," she said, cradling it against her cheek, "She's so cute."

She held it in her hands and kissed it on the forehead.

"And you've never given me anything before," she said before kissing me on the cheek with tears in her eyes. I ran through my memory, and I supposed that was true. It made me feel a bit lame.

Mara really liked her Pichu though. For the first couple of days, she tried to keep it on her shoulder, and when that failed, she tried to get it to stand on the countertop in front of her. Eventually, she realized that Pichu couldn't be used as decorations, and put the Pichu in one of the cages outside.

I kept working on improving the Day Care, and after a few weeks I decided I liked working there, eve though there were a few mishaps. For example, Mara would sometime have me work behind the counter if she had to go out. Mostly it was okay, but once CJ knocked on the door behind the counter. He led my to a Tyranitar cage, where I grabbed one egg, and then to a Caterpie case where I grabbed another. I rubbed him on the head, and gave him two oranges in thanks. I went upstairs to put the eggs in the holder for the right client, and I realized I wasn't sure which one was which. I convinced myself I definitely remembered, and put them where I thought was right, and forgot about them until a young trainer came in yelling.

"I gave you two Tyranitars, and my egg hatched a Caterpie!" he yelled.

"Well, Pokemon breeding never guarantees a specific result," said. The young man gave me an exasperated look.

"I think they got swapped with another trainer," he insisted. I was about to deny it when Mara came back from her errand. She talked with the trainer a bit, and then asked me if I had swapped any eggs. I said I didn't think I had. Mara looked like she had doubts.

"Well, come back soon," she told the trainer, "And hopefully the other trainer will have come back by then"

"No one who bred a Caterpie and got a Larvitar is going to come back!" he spat, but thankfully he left. He was right though, we never saw the other trainer again. Mara always said she'd thought I had done it.

Thankfully, she wasn't too mad, because she had something exciting to tell me. She took out two Pokeballs and showed me.

"Look at these!" she said, "They're a breeding pair of Snorlax! I going to get to try my hand at Snorlax breeding!"


End file.
